Percussion in the Musical Theater

One of my favorite gigs has always been playing musicals. I’ll never forget my first musical at Solano Community College when I was a junior in high school. I played a musical called Shenandoah and since then, I have been fortunate to play a good number of musicals. The level of complexity has sure increased over the years and the above video is a perfect example of what is expected of the percussionist in a musical.

As I was researching this post, I found numerous videos on YouTube featuring percussionists playing and talking about their set-ups. Dave Roth also has a great website where he features photos of his set-ups and lists of the instruments used. Here’s his set-up for Neverland. Thanks to Troy Wollwage for sending the link to Dave’s website.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Dave Gerhart

Dr. Dave Gerhart, Artist Relations Partner for the Yamaha Corporation and freelance percussionist is a nationally recognized performer, composer, and educator. Dr. Gerhart, originally from Fairfield, California, holds a D.M.A. from the University of Southern California, M.M. in Percussion Performance and Instrumental Conducting and a B.M. in Music Education from California State University, Long Beach.

Latest posts by Dave Gerhart (see all)

• 3 Tambourine Strokes Every Percussionist Needs to Know - 03/07/2024
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – Flow - 10/30/2021
• Percussion Education Reads 10/26/21 - 10/26/2021